11-28-2022 City Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION DRAFT 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 1 MINUTES 2 3 DATE : November 7, 2022 4 TIME STARTED : 6:00 p.m. 5 TIME ENDED : 10:15 p.m. 6 MEMBERS PRESENT : Councilmember Stoesz, Lyden (part), 7 Ruhland, Cavegn and Mayor Rafferty 8 MEMBERS ABSENT : None 9 Staff members present: City Administrator Sarah Cotton; Finance Director Hannah 10 Lynch; Community Development Director Michael Grochala; City Planner Katie Larsen; 11 Director of Public Safety John Swenson; Public Services Director Rick DeGardner; Rookery Activity Center Manager Lisa Lamey 12 13 1. Woods Edge/Silver Creek Equity Purchase Agreement – Community 14 Development Director Grochala reported. The council has previously authorized 15 execution of a purchase agreement with this group for land that the City owns in the area 16 across from City Hall. A price and terms of purchase were established, including a 17 requirement for construction of retail or restaurant prior to or concurrent with 18 construction of residential. At this point the group has not been able to come up with a 19 retail commitment and they are coming upon the deadline for doing so. They request an 20 amendment to allow them to move forward on the multi-family component and that 21 would allow them to continue seeking commercial on the site for three years after which, 22 if none is secured, they could move to residential development. Mr. Grochala introduced 23 representatives of Silver Creek Equity who provided information on the elements of 24 residential development they hope to develop. They spoke on the difficulty of securing a 25 restaurant in the current economy and the proposal they have developed that would allow 26 them to move forward. Option one would be to end the contract based on the inability to 27 locate a commercial element; option two would be to move forward with an amendment 28 to the contract. High level architectural renderings were shown as well as two site plan 29 options. 30 31 Councilmember Cavegn received more information on the restaurants that were 32 approached and the rationale for not moving ahead, such as high expense building, post 33 COVID economy. The developers are uncertain of the timing of economic changes in 34 the future but would like a window to continue those discussions. Councilmember 35 Cavegn said he could support moving ahead with the first residential development but 36 would have difficult removing commercial completely – this is the downtown that the 37 City envisioned. 38 39 Councilmember Ruhland said he’s okay with amending the contractual obligation. He 40 doesn’t like the look of a four-story building next to the street. He would also like some 41 type of commitment to commercial long term. 42 43 Councilmember Lyden noted that he has had concern with this development concept 44